Is it possible to harvest and store enough solar in summer to carry you through winter?

[wpns]

This is where Net Metering (aka: The Grid Is My Battery) really shines. It's infinitely large, and there are no infrastructure costs. Also why Net Metering is under attack, and going away in many places.

 

[Nobodybusiness]

This is where Net Metering (aka: The Grid Is My Battery) really shines. It's infinitely large, and there are no infrastructure costs. Also why Net Metering is under attack, and going away in many places.

You don’t have to net meter.
Just use the grid when needed.
That’s what I do.
No agreement.

 

[Solar Guppy]

Also why Net Metering is under attack, and going away in many places.

Net Metering is economically a loss for any electric utility, always has been.

It was always intended to help get solar to a point it would be economically viable without incentives and it has done just that. my first system in 2002 was $5 Watt for just the solar panels, now just about everyone can get them in the ~20 cent range, so they make more sense now than ever even if your home can't use all the energy the solar arrays produce.

 

[Hedges]

Utilities may not like net-metering vs. buying power wholesale, even if dirty.
But there is so much rooftop PV (installed primarily because there was net metering) that it can offset a significant amount of fossil fuel.
Whether CO2 "pollution" is a hoax and money grab or a legitimate issue, avoiding consumption of fossil fuel reduces fuel prices (bad for the gas/petroleum industry) and improves national security.
So we ought to find a way to use it, while being fair to consumers, utilities, and rooftop PV owners.

 

[Doggydogworld]

I've thought of downspout power. We get 20+ inches of rain some months here.

12" of rain on a 3000 sqft roof @ 62.4 lb/cu ft is 187,000 lbs. Sounds promising!
187,000 lbs with a 10 foot drop is 1.87 million ft-lbs or 2.5 million joules
2.5 MJ = 2.5 million Watt seconds / 3600 seconds/hour = 705 Wh = 0.7 kWh

About a dime's worth of electricity. Per month.

 

[OM617YOTA]

12" of rain on a 3000 sqft roof @ 62.4 lb/cu ft is 187,000 lbs. Sounds promising!
187,000 lbs with a 10 foot drop is 1.87 million ft-lbs or 2.5 million joules
2.5 MJ = 2.5 million Watt seconds / 3600 seconds/hour = 705 Wh = 0.7 kWh

About a dime's worth of electricity. Per month.

It's even worse than that, my house is only 1k sqft, shop is another 1k sqft.

 

[OffGridForGood]

It's even worse than that, my house is only 1k sqft, shop is another 1k sqft.

Well check it out then...

First of Six or Seven vids on the topic!

 

[robby]

12" of rain on a 3000 sqft roof @ 62.4 lb/cu ft is 187,000 lbs. Sounds promising!
187,000 lbs with a 10 foot drop is 1.87 million ft-lbs or 2.5 million joules
2.5 MJ = 2.5 million Watt seconds / 3600 seconds/hour = 705 Wh = 0.7 kWh

About a dime's worth of electricity. Per month.

Yes but water IMHO is the only way you could possibly store enough energy.
You just have to go at it on a much larger scale!
By my rough calculations you would need a reservoir of about 1.5 Acres in size with 10ft depth and a drop of 10ft or more to produce about 50KWh per day for 90 days.
The land you would need to run off and collect that amount of water would be dependent on rainfall.

A 5000Kwh battery bank would also do it, but it would cost about $1.5 Million and then you have to get the panels to charge it in the summer and deal with the normal energy loses that come with natural discharge over time.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Yes but water IMHO is the only way you could possibly store enough energy.
You just have to go at it on a much larger scale!
By my rough calculations you would need a reservoir of about 1.5 Acres in size with 10ft depth and a drop of 10ft or more to produce about 50KWh per day for 90 days.
The land you would need to run off and collect that amount of water would be dependent on rainfall.

A 5000Kwh battery bank would also do it, but it would cost about $1.5 Million and then you have to get the panels to charge it in the summer and deal with the normal energy loses that come with natural discharge over time.

The question: "Is it possible to havest and store enough solar in summer to carry you through winter"
Answer: Yes.

The question was NOT -"is it economical "

 

[Nobodybusiness]

The question: "Is it possible to havest and store enough solar in summer to carry you through winter"
Answer: Yes.

The question was NOT -"is it economical "

Anything is possible if you throw enough $ at it..

 

[wpns]

So we ought to find a way to use it, while being fair to consumers, utilities, and rooftop PV owners.

Absolutely, but getting from here to there isn’t trivial. I mean, we’re still using QWERTY keyboards, we’re still doing daylight savings time, all kinds of things that everyone agrees ought to be fixed have not been because “that’s the way it’s always been”. There needs to be a significant financial incentive for the power companies to make a change, and I don’t even know what that would be. Remember, their bottom line isn’t the climate or the weather, or the ecology or our descendants, it’s a guaranteed rate of return for the stockholders. in most cases, they are legally prevented from making the kinds of changes that would benefit our grandchildren.

 

[Zwy]

The question: "Is it possible to havest and store enough solar in summer to carry you through winter"
Answer: Yes.

The question was NOT -"is it economical "

It is economical and possible by harvesting solar in the form of biomass for heating fuel, growing a garden and storing the harvest and wearing clothing made from natural materials are just a few.

It just comes in different forms.

 

[OffGridForGood]

There needs to be a significant financial incentive for the power companies to make a change, and I don’t even know what that would be

I live rural - I have to take my garbage to a dump 6 miles away. I pay per pound to use their service.
It would be "nice" if I could profit from my work, but the public paid to clean up my mess for me, but I don't expect that.
Other industries that pollute, be it air, water, land, should also pay an appropriate amount for cleaning up their waste stream.